


Red String Of Fate

by sumiya



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 10:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4662819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sumiya/pseuds/sumiya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet. </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red String Of Fate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sliceofpi9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sliceofpi9/gifts).



> Wiritten for the Tenipuri Summer Exchange at tumblr. Beta-ed by amazing [arysthaeniru](http://archiveofourown.org/users/arysthaeniru/pseuds/arysthaeniru) and [lahdolphin](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lahdolphin/pseuds/lahdolphin).

The ghostly red string appeared around Akaya’s wrist, on the morning he had his Math term. It was faint and barely _there_ , so he thought he was imagining it, but as classes rolled on and it didn’t go away, he knew he was finally getting his _fate call_. Honestly, he had thought his senpai-tachi had been bullshiting him when they said a red string that connected you with your significant other would appear once Fate thought you were to meet your other half. The string tied you to them for life. You’d feel what they did; if you got injured, they did too.

Weird shit like that, plus it was only visible for you and your partner, which made it even fishier as far as stories went. Because, seriously, that was like the plot of a bad shoujo manga. Still, Yanagi-senpai had never said that it wasn’t true when Niou or Marui had bragged about it, and he always called them on their shit. So Akaya had thought it was true, just never really expected it happen to him.

To be honest, he had never been that interested in it. Some people were all about it, of course, filled with angst about not finding the person the string connected them with, or not having it appear at all. But all of these were hushed whispers in quiet corners and Akaya had other things in mind. For instance, taking over the club before his sempai graduated and left for college. Just like Yukimura-buchou, who was said to had have it appear a few years ago and had gone on ignoring it, for the sake of tennis. Which was totally logical to Akaya, though he was actually curious if the so-called string of fate didn’t actually tie his captain to an actual racket somewhere.

Experimentally, Akaya had tried to touch it during classes but it disappeared every time, only to reappear when he let it be, but the rubber-band sensation on his wrist never really went away. It wasn’t like he _disliked_ the idea that there was someone for him out there. But having it to appear _now_ , during the midterms, was definitely sucky. He was sure he had failed the math test and couldn’t even remember what he had wrote as answers to the questions. Akaya cursed and messed up his hair.

Yukimura-buchou was going to kill him for failing his test and skipping classes, which would lead to detention later on, but this was just odd and he needed to do _something_ about it. How was he supposed to concentrate with this thing flashing red when he was trying to write? What was he supposed to do now? Did he need to go and find that person?

He sneaked out his classroom before the next teacher came in and headed for the tennis court. He jumped down the stairs in a hurry, starting to feel too self-conscious about what he did. What if he broke his neck? Would he kill his significant other, too? Shit. How was he going to bear that responsibility? What if he _failed_ to be a good fate-string holder? Would the string disappear?

Akaya groaned and started running to the clubhouse. Everything made sense on the courts. And even if it didn’t, he could block out his loud messy thoughts with the sound of rubber-and-felt hitting string.

 

 

※

 

“Fuck!” Akaya landed heavily on the court floor, after the ball threw him out of a balance while hitting his shoulder, the burning sensation on his left side indicating the presence of blood.

He apologized mentally to his significant other who must have felt the sting of the hit and growled back at Sanada, teeth bared and murderous glare. Why did he have to be so fucking ruthless? Akaya wanted to paint him red and go full force but what if he hurt Sanada’s other by doing that? Yeah, wiping the court with a dude’s ass was great but possibly hurting a girl that had nothing to do with it, was fucked up. And instead Sanada kept on dashing _Rai_ at him and Akaya was trying his best to return it without throwing a ball at Sanada’s head or hurting himself. Which was turning out to be a pain in an ass.

“Akaya! You are being pitiful today! Your form is terrible. Get up and face me like a man!” Sanada shouted at him and Akaya stormed to his feet. Grabbing the ball at his feet, he threw a smash at Sanada’s face. Which he stopped, easily. Of course he would, the _dick_.

“Then fucking stop sending me those shots!” Akaya bellowed in response, throwing away his racket in frustration and rage. Fuck this shit, and fuck Sanada and everyone that had stopped playing to stare at them. How was he supposed to play tennis with this red _thing_ limiting his gameplay options?

Sanada was over his side of the net, in a flash.

“I won’t tolerate this attitude on the court! You’ll have very strong opponents next year. Is this how you plan to take over the club next year? This is the captain you aspire to be?! Tarundoru!” he bellowed and Akaya felt Sanada’s backhand on his cheek and blood in his mouth, as his lip split by the sheer force of the hit.

And that was the last straw.

“I will better than Hyotei’s Hiyoshi or any other captain and I’ll make Rikkai champion next year!”

Akaya saw red. His blood, Sanada’s, everything was red.

He heard Yanagi-senpai asking them to break it off, and he felt Marui-senpai arms around him, pulling him away as Jackal did the same with Sanada. Yanagi was standing in between the two of them, his arms spread and his eyes open and sharp, as if daring them to continue the fight once Jackal and Marui let them go. Sanada, who now had a sore bruise forming on his cheek, seemed like he was really considering to continue the fight and Akaya was more than happy to oblige him.

Yukimura, who had been playing against Yanagi was behind the team, _glaring_ at them and looking rather murderous with his jacket fluttering behind him.

“And _what_ , might I ask, has gotten in your brainless heads? That would have caused us a disqualification if it happened in a tournament. Explain yourselves before I eviscerate the both of you.”

Involuntarily, Akaya swallowed hard. Sanada gently patted Jackal on the arm and he let him go, and Marui must have thought that with Yukimura’s presence, Akaya would behave, because he let him go too.

“Well? I’m waiting.”

Sanada was the first to speak.

“Akaya’s performance today was unacceptable. When I demanded that he played seriously, he committed a disciplinary fault and I applied the usual corrective measure. Then he jumped on me, I was just defending myself.”

“He kept on sending Rai my way! It’s fucking hard to return that shit without aiming for his face, so I kept on getting hurt because of it!”

“And…” Yukimura raised an eyebrow at him, expectant. Akaya turned around to his sempai to find a support of some kind, but they had similar puzzled expressions on their faces.

“He was hurting her!” Akaya bellowed, patience be damn. Couldn’t they see?

“Her?”

“O-or him…I think... I don’t know, okay?! I just woke up this morning and _it was there_ , and I’m not really sure how this works but I’m not letting anyone hurt them!”

Yukimura turned to Yanagi then, as if he could provide a clearer explanation. Yanagi’s explanations always made sense, most of the time anyway. Yanagi stared at Akaya intently, making him nervous.

“Akaya, are you saying that your red string appeared today?” he asked, sounding really serious out of the sudden.

Akaya felt his cheeks burn, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t. But he knew that this was right and he had done the right thing, by defending them, so he squared his shoulders and raised his chin.

“That’s what I’ve been telling y--”

“And you thought that if Genichirou hurt you in any way, it would transfer to your significant other? That was what made you reluctant to return his serves?” Yanagi continued, not letting Akaya finish. The silence that followed was overwhelming. The red string thing was a normal thing, right? Still, everyone was goggling at him, as if he had grown another head and was about to grow one more, so he just nodded shortly wishing earth would swallow him whole.

Yanagi’s jaw dropped a little, Yukimura pinched the bridge of his nose, and Sanada murmured something under his breath before looking away.

“Alright, pay up!” Niou chirped up, cheerfully breaking the tense mood. Marui grumbled something unpleasant, as he fished out a couple of bills from his pockets, followed by Yagyuu who sighed softly.

“Are you running a betting pool in _my_ tennis club Niou?” came Yukimura’s slightly defeated question. Akaya believed he had reached his piss-off level for the day before and Niou was just too much. Niou was _always_ too much.

“Only for this, Captain. Or maybe a couple more, gotta make a livin’. If it’s such a bother, we can discuss a 8% for you?”

“Niou!”

“Alright 15%. Geez, no need to snap at me, Captain.” Niou looked way too smug and pleased for how pissed-off Yukimura did. “Anyway, you too, Master.”

Yukimura glared at Yanagi, as he handed over a couple of bills to Niou as well, still looking slightly dumbstruck at everything that had just happened. Akaya wished he had his phone to snap a picture, because it was equally terrifying and hilariously funny and he was probably never going to see it again.

“That’s it. I’m done with you. Go run laps, all of you. Until your legs fall off or you die,” Yukimura said quietly, calmly, with a smile that promised a punishment a lot worse to those that didn’t followed the order immediately. So after the generalized groan of displeasure, people started to run.

Akaya jumped when Sanada placed a hand on his shoulder; he was half expecting a scowling or another hit -because seriously, he had never hit Sanada-fukubuchou before and now that he was thinking about it, it hadn’t been his smartest idea. But Sanada just gave him a gentle squeeze and a sympathetic glance before he started to run along the others.

 

 

※

 

Yukimura hadn’t been joking when he said that they would run until their legs fell off. Technically, they were attached to Akaya’s body but it definitely didn’t feel like it.

Akaya slugged his way towards his house and stopped by a small park, vaguely wondering that if his significant other could feel his pain. Ultimately, the aftermath of fighting Sanada had turned out to be worse than scratched knees and being hit by a ball. What would his significant other be thinking? That Akaya had gotten run over by a truck? He apologized mentally, again. Unconsciously, he tried to scratch the intangible red string, but his nails only met skin. He cursed out loud as he sat on a bench and his muscles protested in pain once more.

So what now? He had half-hoped the team would give him some answers but they didn’t have any. Not useful ones, that was. Or maybe they were as smashed as Akaya was, or too afraid of angering Yukimura any further. Perhaps if he visited Sanada later? He seemed to know something about it, so maybe he could help Akaya out.

Akaya shivered at the awkwardness of a one-on-one conservation with Sanada about finding your soulmate. He needed to think of another plan.

Realizing he was too tired to stand up again and resume his way home, Akaya laid down on the bench using his tennis bag as a pillow and closed his eyes. So who he should ask? His sister was out of the question because she was evil and would probably use this as an opportunity to torture him. His mom, maybe? Hell no, that would be even worse than the Sanada option.

Either way, he was lost and fucked.

“Yo.”

Akaya closed his eyes tightly together. That had been Niou-senpai’s voice.

“Ah, Akaya-kun. Is everything alright?”

And that had been Yagyuu’s. Akaya groaned; problems always came in pairs.

“Yeah, just resting some, senpai.”

Even without opening his eyes, Akaya knew they were sitting next to him, each one at either side, trapping him in place. He was too tired to try and run away, so he resigned himself to his fate. Just this once. He opened his eyes, already expecting to see Niou’s mocking smirk and Yagyuu’s judging stern face. Instead, Niou was smiling at him and Yagyuu didn’t look as annoyed as he usually did. It brought Akaya’s guard down.

“What do you want?” he asked wearily.

“What do you?” asked Yagyuu, and Akaya looked from one to the other, blinking owlishly. Was he really not being teased? Were they actually asking him a real question? Straightening up a little, he tried to think of what he did want.

“Answers,” he said, and by saying it aloud, he felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. I don’t know what’s happening and how it works or what it means and I only have this….”

Akaya raised his hand where the red string shone a little redder than it had in the morning, looking a bit more solid too. “But you can’t see it and I think I’m going crazy…”

“You are batshit crazy,” Niou snorted and pulled a face at Yagyuu when he frowned disapprovingly. Niou shrugged. “Usually. I mean, look at you. You punched Sanada and didn’t run away. You are crazy. Not about this, though. The red string is real and if you say you can see it, then it is there.”

Akaya opened his eyes in surprise. He had wanted answers, but hadn’t actually expected to get them. “How do you know? How do I know this is the real thing?”

“It’s more about it feeling real than actually _knowing_ about it, Akaya-kun,” Yagyuu said, looking at the sky above them. “It is a bond after all, you know it is real because you feel connected to someone else, beyond your usual acquaintances. Right now, it only means you are ready to meet your significant other; once the other person is ready to meet you, the string will become stronger and thicker, and eventually will bring you two together.”

“It’s like a switch, that needs to be activated on both sides,” Niou said and shrugged. Yeah, that actually made sense.

“How does it work? What happens if I never find them? Or if the string never gets thicker or anything and I roam all alone forever and ever?” Akaya asked, feeling panic slowly but surely crawling his way inside him.

“Isn’t he cute? He sounds like Yanagi,” Niou laughed and Yagyuu chuckled, as well.  
“Yanagi-senpai?”

“Yup. He’s super frustrated because it hasn’t appeared for him. You know, our data master loves to go into the most depressing-pessimistic outcomes and possibilities,” Niou said as he flopped next to Akaya, using his stomach as pillow. “And since he can’t experience it for himself right now, he will pester you all day, trying to get information out of you…”

“Do you mean it appeared for me before it did for him?!”

“Yes, you can say you beat him,” Yagyuu said grinning mischievously; Akaya was too shocked for words. Even if he technically didn’t do anything to achieve that, he couldn’t stop the sting of pride he felt.

“Wow…”

“Yeah. He is one of the few left on the team that hasn’t got it yet,” Niou said playing with his rattail. “Jackal told me that he got his when he was five years old, back in Brazil. I know for sure Yukimura has it already. He won’t admit it, but I’m sure I saw him staring at it when he got sick back in junior high, just before his surgery. I think Sanada does too. My guess goes that they are bonded together, but every time I scared the shit out of Sanada to get a reaction out of Yukimura, nothing has happened….”

Akaya gaped. “So it really works that way? You feel what the other feels…”

“Totally. Wanna see?” Niou teased, pulling himself up so he could look down at Akaya with a mischievous smirk.

“Sure. Wait, does this means you h--”

Akaya couldn’t finish the sentence as Niou started… touching himself, quite explicitly all over his own body. Akaya frantically turned around expecting to see an scandalized old lady or a cop to arrest them for public indecency; but it was late, it was getting dark and the park was deserted. At the sound of barely restrained moaning, Akaya felt his cheeks burn and tried to look away, but it was kind of exciting and too horrifying at the same time, and he just couldn’t stop watching.

“Look at Yagyuu, Akaya,” Niou commanded and Akaya turned his head to stare at his other senpai, who, even while frowning, was anything but composed. Akaya realized Yagyuu had been the one moaning. “Works for pain, pleasure, strong emotions... Like now that I feel that Yagyuu _really_ wants to hit me for doing this to him, but that would hurt him too.”

Akaya jumped, feeling startled as something started vibrating next to him, with an ominous ringtone. Niou’s eyes opened wide in horror and his hands stopped what they were doing. “Shit. I forgot to call my mom. Be right back.”

And like that, Niou was off the bench, talking amicably into the phone a couple of meters away, as if hadn’t been jerking himself off in public, just a moment ago. Akaya truly believed that the memory of his senpai touching himself right next to him, was going to haunt him forever. Yagyuu made a disapproving noise, attracting Akaya’s attention.

“He is an idiot. I apologize. Apparently, I got myself carried away as well.”

“I think I h-heard that, senpai…” Something Akaya would try to pretend that never happened.

Yagyuu smirked slightly, and he looked so alike Niou, it was scary.

“So… you two are together, like that senpai? Like really tied up?”

“Oh, yes. We found out back in junior high school; it appeared roughly at the same time for us. It wasn’t easy but we managed to get through it.” Yagyuu turned to look at Akaya then, his glasses glinting under the streetlight. “Akaya-kun, this isn’t an exact science. What I’ve figured out so far is that the bond, the string, strengthens as much as you invest yourself into the other person. Just like in any other relationship, you need to care for each other, love each other. It’s not written in stone how it works, some people find their match and some others don’t, but they can still live happily and love someone else and be loved in returned. Even if they are not their soulmates.”

“Pretty much, yeah,” came Niou’s voice out of nowhere and Akaya’s head whiplashed, to see him sitting just next to him again. “Plus, the only people that can actually see the bond are you and your soulmate. So you can go and tell people you are with your soulmate and the only people that will know if it’s true or not, are you and that person. This is as true as you want it to be.”

Akaya’s head spun around, trying to process everything.

“And as hilarious as it is to watch you fight Sanada and get your ass kicked, I wouldn’t recommend limiting yourself so you can make another person that you don’t know happy,” Niou said, ruffling Akaya’s hair. “If they are truly your soulmate, sharing pains won’t matter because sharing the good stuff totally makes it up for it. Right, Yags?”

Yagyuu nodded, smiling. “Also, it depends on how the strong the bond is. I take your string is barely visible for you now?”

“Yes! It’s like it’s barely there, like a ghostly chain. It feels like a rubber band on my wrist, though...”

“I know you can’t, but if you could see ours…” Yagyuu stretched his arm forward Niou, who did the same until their fingertips were brushing against each other, right in front of Akaya’s face. He could almost imagine how the red thread tied them together.

“It started like a small string, but now it’s easily as thick as a sailing rope. It goes along our arms as well, now. That’s why we feel each other so strongly.”

Akaya felt himself panicking inside. “But what happens if you part ways? Or if something happens to one of you? Not that I would want that to happen but…”

“It won’t happen.” It was Yagyuu who deadpanned. “Fate has tied us up for life.”

“Yags really likes to be tied up, you see.” Niou winked at Akaya, making him want to bleach his brain to oblivion.

“Too much information, senpai!”

Niou laughed out loud and Yagyuu smacked him on the head before dragging him to his feet. “It will be alright Akaya-kun. Just give it some time.”

Niou saluted, as he slung one arm around Yagyuu’s shoulders. “It’s worth the wait.”

Akaya watched them walk away and disappear around the corner, before he looked down at his wrist and his little string. He felt a little calmer, even a little hopeful.

Yeah, maybe it would be okay.

 

 

※

 

Having a soulmate wasn’t as easy as he thought, Akaya found out after the first month. The first two weeks had been uneventful and the string had fluctuated from being barely visible some days to shining a lot brighter in others. The problems started during the third week, when Akaya felt a sudden pain in his side, that almost had him doubling over. Another hit followed suite and then another.

And he just _knew_.

The pain wasn’t coming from him, but from his soulmate. His soulmate was in danger and he needed to do something. Akaya ran to Niou’s house to ask for help but everything had stopped when he was almost there. Had something happened? Was he too late?!

The red string was still there though, looking a little more solid, and even if it didn’t ease Akaya’s worries, it couldn’t mean his soulmate was dead.

Soon, he learned that his soulmate was definitely practicing martial arts -three times a week, from six to seven- and that they sucked terribly on Wednesdays. He had had enough of forced kendo lessons with Sanada to know how the aftermath was supposed to feel, and the times it happened all were the same. It royally sucked because he had a lot of homework and tests on Wednesdays, and that was bad enough by itself, without being beaten up.

After Akaya was given detention because he couldn’t control his rage –more like the rage he felt, that was totally not his, he went out and got two piercings in his left ear. It hurt like hell but hey, payback was sweet.

Akaya wasn’t sure when it started to become a _thing_.

It felt like having a permanent conservation he couldn’t see or hear, but he could feel. Sometimes it was all about bitter bickering. Because of the multiples times he suffered through martial arts sessions, Akaya would retaliate by letting Yukimura-buchou yips him on the court. Or that time that he felt unusually tired all day and failed the midterm he had been studying so hard for, he’d called in the next day sick and spent the day jerking off, and hoped he was giving his soulmate the time of their life in public.

But sometimes, it was something completely different.

Like that day when he had felt suddenly sad and at the verge of crying without a reason, Akaya had found himself buying ice cream and playing videogames, trying to cheer his other half up. _‘Maybe they didn’t like videogames’_ , he thought when the sense of helplessness didn’t go away, so he decided to whisper positive thoughts to his wrist, where the string was shining the brightest red. He talked about tennis, and his favorite anime, and how he was so close to beating Yukimura on the tennis court. It was past midnight when he finally felt at ease, and he hoped his soulmate had fallen asleep and was resting now.

Or that time when he’d got caught on the rain and got soaked to the bone, while being locked outside his house. He’d been fucking freezing, his phone had died and he was penniless to take a bus or make a call. He curled in on himself, sitting on the wet floor feeling rather miserable before feeling a peaceful, warm sensation crawling inside him. He’d been filled with protection, and safety and warmth, and that was more than okay. He’d smiled faintly and murmured a thanks to his wrist as he hugged his knees and waited for his mother to come.

And somehow, with time, the string became thicker and thicker.

 

 

※

 

Akaya swallowed hard. There was some uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. It could be excitement of the match he was about to play. His first match as captain. It was big, it was important, it was everything. Policies had changed lately, not allowing friendly matches between schools and Akaya was eager to try his line up against the strongest schools. He had heard a lot of Hyotei’s lately, and that made him uneasy to the say the least. He felt his heart racing inside chest, beating hard at the thought. Yeah, it had to be the raw emotion of the game.

Or maybe just what he’d had for breakfast, because he felt the urge of throwing up. The match before his team’s has just started, so he had some time to spare and hurried to the bathroom.

He splashed his face with cold water but the heat inside him wouldn’t go away. His breathing was irregular and agitated and his heart was loud in his ears. He gripped the sink tightly, for leverage, as his knees threatened to give up on him.

Something caught his attention about his reflection on the mirror. The string was vibrating, tingling, shining. _Burning_.

The bathroom door slammed open.

There was a red flash of light and he felt a pull that left everything spinning. Someone familiar now viewed with a completely new perspective. And everything made sense, all at once.

“No fucking way.”

“You.”

“You!”

“You fucking jerk, all those martial art practices...”

“I bet Sanada wiped the floor with you, that would explain a lot…”

“You fucking idiot!”

“The piercings! I’m going to _kill_ you.”

Akaya gripped the front of Hiyoshi’s jersey and pulled him closer. “You fucking jerk. You have no idea how fucking worried I was at the beginning. It had it be you, you little piece of…”

Akaya was hyperventilating by now and Hiyoshi was in a similar state.

“Listen… Hiyoshi… I know this … this is… I mean… I lov…”

“Don’t say it.”

“Thank goodness.”

“We’ll make it work.”

“Hell yeah.”

“It’s good to finally… see you… like this. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.”


End file.
